One of my most gratifying responsibilities with the Mississippi Humanities Council is coordinating our Family Reading Project, which seeks to bond families through storytelling and humanities-based discussion of award--winning children's books. It is an inspiring and dynamic program that reaches families across the state, but I can often get lost in the day-to-day logistics of the program-confirming program dates, processing host site applications, securing discussion leaders, and transporting books to and from host locations. Occasionally, programs come along with such incredible impact that, instead of focusing on the logistics, I am reminded of the true power of our work.

Recently, we took our family reading program to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl for the women incarcerated there to engage with their visiting children. The idea for the CMCF family reading program started earlier this spring while we were exploring ways to expand our existing prison education programs. We met with CMCF staff to discuss new ways to connect with incarcerated women who have taken MHC-sponsored classes in the past. We learned many of the women have families who visit each weekend during a visitation period, but lack opportunities to interact with them in meaningful ways because of limitations on what visitors can bring inside the prison. With minimal access to books and art supplies and no access to tablets or cell phones, families are left with limited opportunities for constructive family-based engagement during the four-hour visitation windows. With that in mind, we spoke to CMCF staff about offering our family reading program to those families.

Fourteen women signed up to participate in the pilot program with their visiting children. Each week, these families spend an hour together listening to stories and discussing children's books as a group, sharing their own experiences as they relate to themes like bravery, coping, and fairness. One mother noted how she appreciates that the program encourages her to discuss topics with her children they have not been able to address before. Through these weekly conversations, she said she is learning things about her own children and their lives--much of it spent away from her--that she did not know before.

At the same time we began planning the CMCF family reading program this spring, we began a different family reading program with military families at Columbus Air Force Base. The program began after annual base-wide surveys indicated families wanted access to more family-friendly literacy and reading programs on base. We worked with the base's school liaison officer to plan and implement the program for home-school families from the base. We now have an ongoing partnership with CAFB to present military families with humanities-based family reading programs. Through these programs, military families can bond around conversations about bravery, determination, and courage.

Looking back at these and other family reading programs we have conducted this year, I am struck by the breadth of families and communities we have been able to serve through our humanities-based family reading programs. We have conducted programs with families from Jackson Public Schools, families in the Delta town of Drew, Hispanic families in north Mississippi, and more. Regardless of location, socioeconomic status, or race, the families our reading programs serve respond enthusiastically to opportunities to learn and talk together. This is the very heart of our work: to provide dynamic humanities-based programs that spark meaningful conversations.